Hockley Heights Gazette

I have been a poor blogster of late so here I am to make amends. Firstly I should comment on my recent (9 - 12 October) visit to Liverpool. 2007 marks the 800th anniversary of the city's founding charter when letters patent were issued by King John advertising the establishment of a new borough at Liverpool, and inviting settlers to come and take up holdings there.

It is thought that the King wanted a port in the district that was free from the control of the Earl of Chester. Initially it served as a dispatch point for troops sent to Ireland, soon after the building of Liverpool Castle, which was removed in 1726. Liverpool is soon to be the European Capital of Culture in 2008....hmmm...not sure about how 'cultural' the city is apart from the launching of the Beatles but it does appear to have a huge pub and live music culture (see the pics) and a very vibrant youth culture. Liverpool also has the feel of a huge welfare culture and is host to an audacious building program still to be completed before January, but the locals love it and would not trade Liverpool for any other.

Liverpool is of course a great contrast to Paris. How to describe my visit to Paris.....more beautiful than expected and meeting some very friendly Parisians with perhaps an undeserved reputation internationally as being aloof and unhelpful!

The Louvre is so impressive, and much too large to do justice in one day, or indeed I imagine in a month of daily visits. The opulence of Napoleon's apartment is to be marveled at, and the look on his smug portrait face somewhat justified as Emperor I guess. As you probably heard I was unwilling and to be frank too puffed out to make the climb to the second platform of the Eiffel Tower and spent time on the very informative first platform. I noted the position of the Statue of Liberty which was given in appreciation for the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor by Americans living in Paris. The Paris version is a small replica, about 35 feet high, of the Statue of Liberty and is mounted next to the Pont de Grenelle, a bridge crossing the Seine, 1.5 km South of the Eiffel Tower.

The view of the Eiffel Tower from early evening at Sacre Coeur was beautiful. We also wandered around Montmartre and saw the artist plying their trade.The view from the Arc De Triomphe was spectacular, and very popular with the tourists looking down on the chaotic traffic below.....given even greater appreciation with a couple of cyclists also battling the unruly volume of cars and buses negotiating the circle surrounding the monument to fallen soldiers of France. Our open top bus tour allowed us to see the Opera House, Madeleine (a church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. In French, Magdalene is known as Madeleine, hence the name of the building), Louvre Museum, Notre-Dame, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Orsay Museum, Concorde, Champs-Elysées, Arc de Triomphe, Trocadéro, Eiffel Tower and Invalides. In Bastille we toured passed the July Column (French: Colonne de Juillet) which is a monument to the Revolution of 1830.

It stands in the center of the Place de la Bastille, in Paris, to commemorate the Trois Glorieuses, the "three glorious" days in July 1830 that saw the fall of Charles X of France and the commencement of the "July Monarchy" of Louis-Philippe. The Bastille also features in the story of 'The Man In The Iron Mask' which tells the story of a 2nd king, a twin, hidden at birth, then imprisoned for 6 years behind an iron mask while King Louis XIV rules the country of France, but due to his lifestyle and the costs of war, people are forced to suffer hunger and poverty.
On July 14, 1789, the storming of the Bastille immediately took on a great historical dimension; it was proof that power no longer resided in the King as God's representative, but in the people, in accordance with the theories developed by their philosophers of the eighteenth century. Within two days the Revolution could not be reversed. For all citizens of France, the storming of the Bastille came to symbolize liberty, democracy in the struggle against oppression.

In all Paris was very impressive, a living history lesson, and a fantastic couple of days! Would love to go back some time soon. Hope everyone is well, and shall blog again soon, I promise...Cheers Kym